Name : Unai Emery
Age: 46
Nationality: Spanish
Previous Team Managed: Paris Saint-Germain
It was no shock that Arsene Wenger left Arsenal last season, their most successful manager of all time, who spent 22 years at the club had faltered in recent seasons. Though Arsenal had not won many trophies towards the end of his tenure, the thing Wenger was always doing was getting Arsenal into the Champions League (CL). Though they didn't have the success in that competition that they would have liked, it was a huge deal to deliver CL football year on year.
When Arsenal failed again to break into the top four in the Premier League the end for Wenger was confirmed, there had been rumours of Wenger leaving the previous season, but Arsenal persisted with him despite the poor results. Probably the board looked at how Manchester United struggled after their long serving Manager Sir Alex Feguson left the club.
When Unai Emery accepted to take over the job at the Emirates stadium, there was no doubt in his mind that he was taking on probably one of the hardest jobs in football. Arsenal is a team which has slowly fallen from being one of the best teams in the Premier League and being part of the “big four” to battling for fifth and sixth for the last two consecutive seasons. There was only one goal when Unai Emery was hired; get the team back into the top four.
Four games in and Emery has now sampled what the Premier League offers. Life just could not get any harder as Arsenal was paired to face off against the brilliant champions Manchester City at the Emirates and subsequently Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The first game was simply a disaster as the champions showed why it took so long for anyone to defeat them in the Premier League last season. Unai Emery lost his first game at home and the expression on his face and those on the players told the whole story.
The second game was way better as all the hype surrounding the training methods of Unai Emery finally paid dividends. The truth is that Arsenal could count themselves very unfortunate not to get at least a draw against their West London rivals. However, the defeat showed that the new Arsenal boss had a lot of work ahead of him and something had to change and change fast. This is exactly what happened in the next two matches.
Next up was a derby against West Ham and finally, for the first time in the new season, Arsenal showed their quality. Despite the win, there were times where you could sense that this was a team which could concede at any time. This feeling was brought to life in their match against Cardiff.
In a game which Arsenal was expected to win comfortably against the new boys in the league, it proved to be quite the struggle. Two shots on target ensured that Cardiff kept the scoreline at parity. These were the types of games which Arsenal could not win last season. This is seen in the fact that they have only won 2 games away from home throughout 2018. However, a rocket of a goal from Lacazette spared Arsenal’s blushes and ensured that they went home with all three points.
So far, it is not all gloom for the new boss. This Arsenal team is simply loaded with talent and quality especially when it comes to their attacking force. However, Emery would have to be wary of defensive problems which makes the defence look shaky and sloppy at times. So far, they have conceded eight (8) which is already a lot. Time would tell if Emery would be able to bring some consistency into Arsenal’s game. However, if he can harness the power of his attacking force effectively, the future is bright for Arsenal Football Club.
Manager Rating 7/10